Posted - 01/19/2012 : 08:35:35 AM I've been reading through some of the discussions regarding this subject elsewhere on the forum. I've started knitting a Shetland lace christening shawl, (only my third attempt at lace and a pretty ambitious one) and all the instructions call for k2tbl. I've started that way and will continue of course for this project. I find that I like it so much better than ssk. I've always found the ssk to be kind of a Rube Goldberg way of doing things.

I'm really still not clear about what difference it makes. Can anyone explain it better than it already has been done on the forum?

Nicole

If we don't get there together, we won't get there at all.

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achrisvet

Posted - 08/08/2012 : 11:10:06 AM

quote:Originally posted by baldocchi

That's interesting. Do you ever use ssk? I wonder why at times in this pattern it calls for an skp rather than k2tbl if they're essentially the same thing?

If we don't get there together, we won't get there at all.

They are not the same. K2togtbl is twisted at the base.

Shelia

Posted - 02/11/2012 : 09:29:22 AM It calls for differrent decreases because they look very slightly different. The Shetland knitters traditionally were very much about speed as well as artistry, so if they found that in some places they couldn't tell the difference they went for the faster decrease that still leaned the same way. Remember, these women were traditionally contributing in a significant way to their family's income, beginning when they were tiny children.

When I was in Lerwick a couple of years ago I was knitting lace in the audience at a symposium, surrounded by Shetland and Fair Isle women who were also knitting as they listened. After watching me for a bit, one of the women volunteered that I would go faster if I didn't bother doing any left-leaning increases at all. The accepted wisdom among them was that if you are knitting on needles size 2 (US) or smaller it doesn't really matter which way the decreases go as they are too small to show up leaning one way or the other. Also, none of them did either the ssk or the skp, they manipulated the needle through the first stitch, behind and around then knitted the second stitch all while the stitches were still on the left needle, then completed the stitch and slipped both off together. Again, faster and exactly the same as a skp. I never saw anyone do k2tog tbl, though of course it's possible they do sometimes. Is your shawl a moderrn design or a traditional Shetland one written by a Shetland knitter?

Posted - 02/10/2012 : 10:32:03 PM That's interesting. Do you ever use ssk? I wonder why at times in this pattern it calls for an skp rather than k2tbl if they're essentially the same thing?

If we don't get there together, we won't get there at all.

MMario

Posted - 01/20/2012 : 06:43:28 AM k2tog tbl twists the stitches.

a more exact mirror to k2tog would be slip 1, knit 1, pass the slipped stitch over; but the ssk has replaced this for many people as they feel it gives a smoother decrease.

I use skp when my yarn is heavier in relation to the needle size or when using a thick yarn;I usually use k2tog tbl when the yarn is finer in relation to the needle or knit at a looser gague - it is harder to see the twists under those conditions and the ease of doing it is great!

MMario - I don't live in the 21st century - but I play a character who does.